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Tampa Bay rides thunderous start to 5-1 win against Pittsburgh, ties series 1-1

Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St Louis, Simon Gagne, Steven Stamkos

Tampa Bay Lightning’s Vincent Lecavalier (4) celebrates his first-period goal with Steven Stamkos (91), Martin St. Louis(26) and Simon Gagne (12) during Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Pittsburgh Friday, April 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

AP

Upon the completion of Marc-Andre Fleury’s 32-save shutout for a 3-0 Penguins win in Game 1, I couldn’t help but ask: could Pittsburgh really keep the Tampa Bay Lightning under wraps?

The Lightning didn’t wait long to end Fleury’s shutout streak as Eric Brewer scored about two minutes into Game 2. Tampa Bay stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, which ended up being all they needed after a great performance by Dwayne Roloson. Fleury ultimately allowed four goals on only 20 shots while Roloson made 35 out of 36 saves for the 19th win of his playoff career.

After being frustrated in Game 1, the Bolts now have home ice advantage in this first round series.

Tampa Bay 5, Pittsburgh 1; Series tied 1-1

Brewer scored a goal and two assists, Martin St. Louis didn’t need all of his teeth to score a goal and assist and Simon Gagne provided three helpers in this one-sided Tampa Bay win. Craig Adams scored Pittsburgh’s only goal, but Roloson made sure it wouldn’t matter.

After only receiving one power play opportunity in Game 1, the Lightning connected on two out of six man advantages with St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier finding the net in those situations. It wasn’t exactly the polar opposite of Wednesday’s game from an officiating standpoint, though, as the Penguins failed to score on seven opportunities.

The Lightning scored those three first period goals on only eight shots and then seemed to go into cruise control in the final 40 minutes, only putting 13 shots on Fleury while the Penguins sent 28 shots at Roloson in the final two periods. These last two games showed the best and worst of Fleury, as he allowed two goals on Tampa Bay’s first three shots in Game 2 after standing on his head in Game 1.

Perhaps the one worrisome factor is the continued struggles of Steven Stamkos, who went without a point.

One has to wonder if Fleury might have a minor issue with early playoff butterflies considering the fact that his young career is pockmarked with bad starts, although Roloson was the netminder who made a puckhandling gaffe in this game.

Much has been made about Tampa Bay’s inexperience, but it was the team’s veterans who took over Game 2, as Roloson, Brewer, Gagne, Lecavalier and St. Louis came up big. It’ll be interesting to see how a change of scenery affects this series, but Guy Boucher probably cannot complain about a 1-1 tie.